Safer Internet Day

Today is Safer Internet Day across the EU. SQA's website has information about our contribution to the day. We are also involved in today's event at CEOP in London.

As readers of this blog will know, we've been working with CEOP over the last few months to create what may be a world-first qualification in child protection designed for educators, trainers and other professionals. The PDA in Online Protection & Safeguarding of Children was designed in partnership with CEOP and has recently been validated.

The National Unit in Internet Safety has been available to centres for some time now. Some schools offer it to every pupil as part of their S1-S2 curriculum; others make it available to older pupils before they leave school. The feedback from centres (such as Airdrie Academy and Glasgow High School) that offer it to every pupil has been very positive. It would be great if more schools did something similar. Colleges too offer the unit to adult learners and it has proven particularly popular with more mature learners who have concerns about online fraud and identity theft.

The Internet Safety unit is supported by online learning and online testing so the whole thing is very simple to deliver. In fact, students can do the entire unit using their mobile phones!

Contact Caroline if you want to know more about SQA's online safety or child protection qualifications. It would be great if your contribution to Internet Safety Day was to add this award to your curriculum.